With state agencies squeezing money out of their budgets last year, House Republican Leader Rick Quinn funneled $900,000 in state funds through the Department of Health and Environmental Control to pay for soccer and baseball fields in his district.

Quinn wasn't alone.

State Rep. Bill Clyburn and state Sen. Tommy Moore, both Democrats who represent Edgefield County, used similar methods to direct $500,000 to the Edgefield County Senior Citizens Council to help build a new senior center.

And state Rep. Marty Coates, R-Florence, helped round up $200,000 for a sewer treatment plant in the town of Olanta.

Those are all examples of how legislators use one-time money, state revenue that's expected to be available for just one year. Often, members of the House Ways and Means Committee bargain among themselves to spend the money on individual projects.

Quinn said the budget approved last year included nearly $500 million in one-time money. Some of it went to individual projects not discussed in the full House or Senate. As chairman of the health subcommittee of Ways and Means, Quinn could steer one-time money through health-related agencies.

At least $4.1 million in one-time money passed through DHEC's budget for the fiscal year that ends next month. The budget for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism also included about $2 million in one-time money.

Some one-time money goes through every large agency, but the agencies have no control over the funds.

LEGISLATORS WITHDRAW CRITICISMS

Seldom do members of the Legislature complain publicly about these maneuvers.

But Reps. Joe Brown and Leon Howard, both Richland County Democrats, stood up at a Richland County Recreation Commission meeting in March and criticized Quinn for earmarking $900,000 for fields at Ballentine and Friarsgate parks.

"In tough budget times, it's just not realistic that that kind of money is allocated to a park," Brown said in a passionate speech.

"If times were doing well, I might do the same thing," Howard said. "But in this budget climate, I wouldn't do it. I mean, people are losing jobs."

When a reporter asked Quinn the next day for a response to the complaints, Quinn said Brown and Howard didn't understand where the money was coming from.

A few hours later, Brown and Quinn made a conference call to the reporter. Brown said he had misunderstood. He no longer had a problem with the funding.

Weeks later, Howard said he also had talked with Quinn about the expenditure and understood it was inserted into the budget before it became clear state money would be so tight. He also no longer has a problem with it.

Quinn contends one-time money should be used for nonrecurring items such as park improvements. One reason the state's in a budget crisis is one-time money has been used for recurring expenses, such as salaries and programs, Quinn said.

Youth sports leagues in the Irmo area had been trying for years to get the Richland County Recreation Commission to convert seldom-used baseball fields at Ballentine Park into soccer fields. They worked out a plan to convert a soccer field at Friarsgate Park into a baseball field and several baseball fields at Ballentine Park into soccer fields.

That would make it less confusing for parents with practices and games alternating between the two parks a few miles apart. All soccer would be at Ballentine, and all baseball would be at Friarsgate.

The parents turned to Quinn when the recreation commission said it didn't have money to pay for reconfiguring the fields, adding lights and building restrooms.

Some of the $900,000 could go to upgrade the new community center at Ballentine Park, which is being paid for with capital project bonds approved by Richland County Council in 1997. Some also could go to improvements to the old recreation center at Friarsgate Park.

But, in accepting the $900,000 check, recreation commissioners spoke mainly of improvements in playing fields.

Quinn takes pride in getting the money for his district, which he claimed has "a long track record of difficulty in getting recreational facilities" through the county recreation commission.

"I am very aggressive in trying to find money for my district," Quinn said.

PROJECTS NEEDED, LEGISLATORS SAY

Most of the others who found money for their districts in the tight budget also gladly took credit.

A photo of Clyburn and Moore holding an oversized $500,000 check stares out from the Web site of the Edgefield County Senior Citizens Council, which is using the state money to replace a senior center.

County and private money also is helping pay for the project. Moore and Clyburn said the current facility is ancient and needs to be replaced.

"The old place did not have the capacity to handle the people," Clyburn said. "These people need a place where they can go to eat and be taken care of."

Clyburn said he isn't sure of all the intricacies of working the senior center money through the DHEC budget. Moore said he's not always comfortable with the behind-the-scenes method of inserting individual projects into agency budgets. But both men feel the Edgefield project is deserving of state support.

Other legislators are sure their projects are worthy of state money too.

For instance, Shared Care of Horry County got $150,000 for a program in which three local hospitals identify uninsured residents and enroll them in Medicaid.

"We've got 28,000 people who do not have health insurance," said Rep. Tracy Edge, R-Horry. "That's a real problem."

Edge, in his third two-year term, said he didn't know how the money worked its way through the DHEC budget to Shared Care.

"I'm not sure why it didn't go through (the Department of) Health and Human Services," Edge said. "But I'm on (the Ways and Means committee) this year, and I'm learning a lot about how it works."

Edge also said legislators hoping to snare one-time money this year for large projects in their districts will be out of luck.

"I don't know if you'll see any of that in this year's budget," Edge said. "Last year's budget was tight. This year's is even tighter."